Luis Severino has been known as the Yankees No. 1 pitching prospect and proved his worth by cruising through the minor league system after he was signed as an international free agent in 2012. Severino’s latest stint with the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees proved to the Bronx Bombers that he was ready for the Majors, Severino going 7-0 with a 1.91 ERA in 61.1 innings. With the injury to Michael Pineda, the timing seemed right to bring Severino up so he could start his Major League career against the Boston Red Sox, and unlike the other pitchers who had made their debuts with the Yankees this season, only to head back down to Triple-A a few days later, Severino is here to stay with the ball club for the rest of the season.

“We are excited to see what Luis Severino will do over time, forgetting (tonight),” Brian Cashman said regarding Severino. “In fairness to him, it’s going to be his first Major League start, (at) Yankee Stadium, (against the) Boston Red Sox. He’s going to have anything and everything to work through on that aspect, and so he’s got a much longer rope, and I hope people recognize that. We’re going to lean on a guy who’s earned the right to be leaned on. But at the same time, we can’t forget how old he is and how quick he’s moved himself. That makes us excited.”

The team also confirmed Severino would not have an innings limit and have made sure to monitor his innings in the minor leagues just in case they would need him as the postseason race intensifies. If the Yankees were to limit his innings, it would be due to Severino theoretically pitching late into ball games. And even though Yankees have no idea what they’re going to get out of Severino as he begins pitching at the Major League level, they are excited to see if their prospect could become a liable asset to the ball club.

“I know we’re excited by his ability, excited by what he’s done, excited that he put himself in position that we hoped he would,” Cashman said. “That’s why we played with the innings the way we did this season. Gil Patterson, myself, Gary Denbo and Larry Rothschild and Joe Girardi and my staff, we all sat down numerous times this winter and then again in Spring Training and mapped out this scenario. And if he performed up to his capabilities, we felt he would pitch for us from August on at some point. And here we are. So now it’s, let’s see what we’ve got.”

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